The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1887-05-28

rOdSL6Q WGIG SullOCdtCu OClOlC tHO HohISo
cu.led round them. The spectacle was
courage -sapping and pitiful, and it ap
pealed strongly to the imagination of
the spectators, but do not believe that
the wounded soldiers, who were being
burned, suffered greatly, if they suffered
at all.
Wounded soldiers, it mattered not how
slight the wounds, generally fastened
away from the battle lines. A wound
entitled man to go to the rear and to a
hospital. Of course, there were many
exceptions to this rule, as there would
necessarily be in battles where from
twenty thousand to thirty thousand men
were wounded. frequently saw slight
ly wounded men who were marching
with their colors. l personally saw but
two men wounded who continued to
fight. During the first days fighting
in the Wilderness | saw youth of about
twenty years skip and yell, stung by a
bullet through the thigh. He turned
to limp to the rear. After he had gone
few steps he stopped, then he kicked
out his leg once or twice to see if it
would work. Then he tore the cloth
ing away from his leg SO as to see the
wound. He looked at it attractively
for an instant, then kicked out his leg
again, then turned and took his place
in the ranks, and resumed firing. There
was considerable disorder in the line,
and the soldiers moved to and fro
now few feet to the left, now few
feet to the right. One of these move
ments brought me directly behind this
wounded soldier. I could plainly see
from that position, and pushed into the
gaping line and began firing. In a min
ute or two the wounded soldier dropped
his rifle, and clasping his left arm, ex-
claimed: 81 am hit again!" He sat
down behind the battle ranks and tore
off the sleeve of his shirt. The wound
was very slight-not much more than
skin deep. He tied his handkerchief
around it, picked up his rifle, and took
position alongside of me. 1 said:
"You are fighting in bad luck to-day.
You had better get away from here"
He turned his head to answer me. His
head jerked, he staggered, then fell,
then regained his feet. A tiny fountain
of blood and teeth and bone and bits
of tongue burst out of his mouth. He
had been shot through the jaws; the
lower one was broken and hung down.
l looked directly into his open mouth,
which was ragged and bloody and
tongueless. He cast his rifle furiously
on the ground, and staggered off.
The next day, just before Longstreet's
soldiers made their first charge on the
Second Corps, heard the peculiar cry
stricken man utters as the bullet tears
through his flesh. 1 turned my head,
as l loaded my rifle, to see who was hit.
l saw bearded Irishman pull up his
shirt. He had been wounded in the
left side just below the floating ribs.
His face was gray with fear. The
wound looked as though it was mortal.
He looked at it for an instant, and then
rnked i gently with his index FINGER.
faction. He tucked his shirt into his
trousers, and was fighting in the ranks
again before 1 had capped my rife.
The ball had cut a groove in his skin
only. The play of the Irishman's face
was so expressive, his emotions changed
SO quickly, that could not keep from
laughing.
Near Spottsylvania I saw, as my bat
terry was moving into action, group
of wounded men lying in the shade cast
by some large oak trees. All of those
mems faces were gray. They silently
looked at US as we marched past them.
One wounded man, a blonde gaint of
about forty years, was smoking brier-
wood pipe. He had firm grip on the
pipe stem. 1 asked him what he was
doing. "Having my last somke, young
fellow" he replied. His dauntless
blue eyes met mine, and he bravely
tried to smile. 1 saw that he was dying
fast.
Wounded soldiers almost always tore
tbeis fil9tIhling. away from their wounds.
character. Many of them would smile,
and their faces would brighten as they
realized that they were not hard hit,
and that they could go home for few
months. Others would give a quick
glance at their wounds, and then shrink
back as from blow, and turn pale, as
they realized the truth that they were
mortally wounded. The enlisted men
were exceedingly accurate judges OF the
probable result which would ensue from
any wound they saw. They had seen
hundreds of soldiers wounded, and they
had noticed that certain wounds always
resulted fatally. They knew when they
were fatally wounded, and after the
shock of discovery had passed, they
generally braced themselves and did
died in manly manner. 1t was seldom
that an American or Irish volunteer
funked in the presence of death.